For those that may know of the series of lectures Bernstein did for the Omnibus programme back in the 1950's (I think?), they are being shown this week on the Sky Arts channel.

For those that don't know them - the "Art of Conducting" one is a massive insight into just what it takes for someone to stand in front of an orchestra/band...the others are great fun, tremendously informative, and Bernstein makes it all sound so.....disarmingly simple!

We'd been meaning to post an Appreciation on just this topic, amigo. The eps are uniquely enthralling and are a text-book commentary (that's utterly condemnatory vis-a-vis nothing like this would Evah get through on Amurrican commercial - not cable - teevee nowadays. And then they wonder why general cultural standards have become so specifically enmeshed in a lowest-common denominator societal black hole) .

Mr. Bernstein was a royal rarity of an Artist who also excelled as a [ P.O.P. = Professor of Perception ] where teaching and educating is concerned.

The apex of this series' achievement for us is the opening seg wherein he gloriously guides the audience on all the intriquing intricacies and creative decisions that went into Beethoven's immortal 5th (up to and including gobsmacking musical extracts of

what the composer didn't use!!!)

If anything merits 'Must Have" status for one's personal perusal and residual rich enjoyment and enlightenment, THIS is It.

When I was 19 so many years ago, months before being shipped off to Japan (as a marine), I bought a large set of Bernstein's TV lectures "A Young Person's Guide To Music," on, as I recall, mini LPs that still played at 33 1/3 rpm. Then a few years ago I replaced them with a great set on DVD, although I've only watched part of one of them. Maybe I should try to find them to finally watch more than just one! On CD, I have Bernstein giving a great lecture on how Beethoven composed the first movement of his 5th symphony, with him conducting chunks of the movement to demonstrate his points, a fascinating aspect being his playing of how the movement would have sounded had Beethoven settled on one or another of his earlier sketches. But to conserve space and be able to include versions of it in 4 or 6 languages, they have 1 language in each channel, so I've never been able to download it without having English on one side and another language on the other, which is frustrating. Bernstein loved educating people about classical music. (The above graphic may be what I have, if I could just find that boxed set of DVDs!)

Hmmm ... maybe I was wrong. I just remember it as a boxed set about Bernstein's Young Person programs, so I seem to have confused the two. Now I need to start searching some boxes to find what I've done with that other one. And, always a fan of Bernstein, I'll look into the above set, but except for complementary digital downloads from new Blu-rays I've bought, I don't download video to my computer, preferring to keep DVDs and Blu-rays separate so I can watch them in another room away from the computer -- I spend too much time in front of my 27" iMac already!!! Thanks.

Highly recommend shows on jazz (for novices) ; modern music (Goldsmith fans); Bach (especially for Morricone lovers). "The test of a great composer is the ability to use old notes in a new way" -Leonard Bernstein Remember these wise words next time you accuse a film composer of "stealing". Brm Re